1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parts feeding device for feeding parts to a surface mounting machine body, and to a surface mounting machine to which the parts feeding device is applied.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, as one means which is equipped in a surface mounting machine to feed parts to be mounted, a parts feeding device, which is also referred to as a so-called tape feeder, is known. For example, the parts feeding device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-295829 has a configuration in which a parts feeding tape, which houses a plenty of parts at regular intervals, is fed up to the parts extraction position ahead while being unwound from a reel loaded in the parts feeding device, and the mounting head provided to the surface mounting machine extracts the parts at the parts extraction position.
With a conventional device, when the parts feeding device is to be removed (extracted) from the surface mounting machine body for the replacement of the reel due to the shortage of parts or malfunction of the parts feeding device, the surface mounting machine body is temporarily stopped. However, in order to improve the mounting efficiency of parts, in recent years, there are cases where the surface mounting machine body is caused to continue operating, without stopping, upon removing the parts feeding device.
When the parts feeding device is removed while the surface mounting machine body is kept operating, the parts feeding tape that has become empty as a result of feeding the parts will flap around horizontally. The horizontally flapping tape sometimes extends to the motion space of the mounting head and becomes tangled with the mounting head. Therefore, improvements are being demanded.